"Do you really have to go, Ace?"

"We're gonna miss you!"

"I'm gonna miss you guys, too." Ace assured, crouching down so the younger kids could surround her in a group hug.

"But I'm too old to stay here now. Once I get settled in, I'll come back."

"You promise?" One of the younger children wondered, dark brown eyes bright with tears.

"I promise."

"Acacia."

Looking up at the older woman standing by the door, holding the backpack that contained everything she owned in the world, Ace sighed.

"It's time for me to go."

Despite their protests, she stood up, ruffling their hair in goodbye before taking her backpack and swinging it over her shoulder.

There was a car waiting outside, a beat-up old truck with chipped green paint, and she hopped into the passenger seat, watching the woman talk with the children before joining her.

"Are you ready?"

Looking out of the smudged window at the place she had called home for the last eight years, Ace shrugged.

"I guess…"

Whenever an orphan ages out of the system, they are often left on their own, with no money or hopes of immediately furthering their education.

There is not enough money in the system to afford such things.

Knowing this, Ace had been planning on moving in with her older brother, Jerry, a twenty-six year old construction worker.

But when she heard that his wife, Lula, was pregnant with their first baby…

"I'm leaving."

"Damn it, Ace." Jerry cursed, running a hand through his own unruly red hair.

"This is why I didn't tell you when we found out!"

"You have a kid on the way. The last thing you need is me hanging around." Ace argued.

"We can work this out. Me and Lula still want you to stay."

"You'd shoot yourself if you thought it would help." Ace pointed out cynically.

"Damn right I would!" Jerry shot back.

"And I'd make a deal with the Devil while I was at it!"

Silence fell as the siblings stared at each, caught in a battle of wills that Jerry knew he would lose.

Ace was never a quitter.

"…Wait here."

Quirking an eyebrow in curiosity, she watched Jerry walk into the bedroom he shared with Lula and come back with a torn-up package in his hands.

"Grandpa gave this to me before he…died." Jerry admitted, holding the parcel out to her.

"He told me to give it to you on your eighteenth birthday."

Holding the package in her lap, Ace stared at the familiar handwriting on the front.

'For my little Kitten'.

A little hiccup of a sob caught in her throat at the old nickname, but she forced it down.

"…Thanks, Jerry."

"What are big brothers for?" He joked, pulling her up for a hug.

"Besides being good targets for water balloons?"

Laughing at the memory of countless summers spent trying not to get nailed in the face by a water balloon, Jerry walked with his sister to the back door.

"Just be careful, smartass. I don't want you wandering around after dark."

"I'll try." She promised sarcastically, though the promise itself was sincere.

"And you'll take that old mutt with you?"

"Cerberus is a purebred." Ace reminded him, mock-affronted.

"Whatever. Just take care of yourself."

"No one else is going to do it."

Picking up her bag from beside the door, she swung it onto her shoulder and managed a smile.

"I'll try Christie's."

"Don't do anything she tells you." Jerry jested, ruffling her bangs.

"I'm not the one who listened to her idea about Beer Pong." Ace retorted playfully, stepping outside.

"See you later, Jerry."

"Later."

Watching Dojo fly overhead with the Xiaolin monks, it became clear that Chase Young had not been the only one to pinpoint the location of the Swords.

But he would be the first to claim the prize.